by Karly Lane
Rilee had also noticed the subtle change in Ellen and Jacob since the accident; it hadn’t been lost on the girls either. She hadn’t had a chance to really think about it with everything going on, but Natalie’s comment a few days earlier that her parents were stuck in a two-bedroom suite and hadn’t killed each other now floated back to mind. Ellen and Jacob had been different.
As she watched them over dinner that evening, it was like looking at her in-laws in some kind of alternate universe—having the kind of relationship they could have been having. While they weren’t acting like a pair of newlyweds, there was a subtle shift in their body language. They sat closer on the lounge—she couldn’t even remember them ever siting on the same lounge at home before. She’d even overheard them discussing stories from the newspaper; maybe it wasn’t some huge romantic gesture but it was interaction and communication, and Rilee hoped this was the start of a new beginning for the couple. After all, if she and Ellen could forge a new friendship, surely there was hope for their marriage.
Rilee met up with Janice and Sid at a nearby café the next morning, allowing Jacob and Ellen to have some time alone with their son. It had been great to see them both—the visit wasn’t anywhere near as long as she’d have liked, but it had done her the world of good to see her old friends again. They’d surprised her with news that they were planning to retire within the next few years and do some travelling, and Rilee made them promise to head out to Pallaburra and stay with them. It was hard to imagine Sid caravanning instead of standing behind a bar, but the thought gave her something happy to think about as she headed back to the hospital.
As she entered Dan’s room, Ellen and Jacob were just about to leave.
‘We’ll let you two spend some time together. I think your father and I will stay in the city for a few days. We’re actually looking at some properties down here,’ Ellen said.
‘Properties?’ Dan’s voice still had a hoarse sound to it.
‘Your mother’s always wanted a place in the city, son. If I’m going to be spending all this flamin’ time down here, it makes sense to have somewhere to stay. All going well, we’re thinking after my treatment we’ll probably start spending a few months of the year in the city. The doc reckons I need to start taking things a bit easier,’ his father shrugged. ‘But don’t go getting any ideas about taking over the place. I’ll still be hangin’ around to make sure everything’s running right,’ he added, just so they didn’t think he was going completely soft.
She could see Dan doing a double-take at his parents.
‘Come on, I’m hungry. Let’s find a place to eat,’ Jacob said, getting to his feet and holding his arm out to his wife.
‘Oh for goodness sake, Jacob. Have you been drinking or something?’ Ellen said, although there was no sting to the words and she slid her arm into his willingly.
Jacob sent them a wink as they walked out the door and this time Rilee couldn’t hold back her giggle.
‘What the hell was that?’ he croaked.
‘I think that was your parents reconnecting.’
‘What did you do to them?’
‘Don’t look at me. They did it all by themselves.’
‘Just how long was I out for?’ he asked with a befuddled frown.
She did chuckle at that. ‘Sometimes it takes almost losing something to give you a kick up the pants,’ she said softly.
Rilee felt her throat tighten as Dan’s gaze settled on her. She’d almost lost him. He could have died. She saw his eyelids droop slightly and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. ‘You get some rest. I’ll come back later.’
‘Don’t go,’ he said, and his hand tightened on hers.
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ she promised, kissing his cheek softly as she watched him lose the battle to stay awake.
Forty-two
Six weeks later and life had settled back into a new kind of normal back at home. After his last check-up and the doctor’s approval, Dan was allowed on light duties, under Rilee’s strict instructions that if he did anything more than supervise, she would hogtie him to the bed. Unfortunately, Rilee suspected he considered this an incentive, so for good measure she warned Mark that he would be in trouble as well if she caught Dan doing anything strenuous.
Rilee’s return to the clinic, having left town during the fallout from the high school education session, was one of nervous anticipation. Her heart sank a little as she saw the number of messages waiting for her on the phone. Surely they’d given up on the nasty calls by now? She almost deleted them without listening, but relented at the last minute. She cautiously pressed the button and played the first one. It was a request for an appointment. Rilee hit the second message after taking the details of the first call and to her surprise it was another appointment request. Within a few minutes she was up to message eight and she’d already filled most of the columns on the next few days in her appointment book. ‘I’m calling for an appointment. Edna said you were a miracle worker and she feels better than she has in years. She said I should give you a call,’ the woman on the answering machine was saying. It wasn’t the first one who had mentioned Edna as the referring source and Rilee caught her lower lip between her teeth as gratitude washed over her. The last message was from Teal asking if she could call him back.
The sound of the door opening made Rilee glance up from her paperwork. ‘This is a nice surprise,’ Rilee smiled as Shae walked in and sat down. Her smile quickly faded when she saw how pale her friend was. ‘What’s wrong?’
Shae lifted her red-rimmed eyes and Rilee immediately moved to her friend’s side and took her hand. ‘Shae?’
‘I took a test this morning,’ Shae said.
For a moment Rilee frowned. A test? ‘A pregnancy test?’ she finally realised, eyeing Shae intently.
‘It was positive,’ Shae whispered, squeezing Rilee’s hand tightly.
Rilee stared at her for a moment and then beamed, overcome with relief that it was good news and not bad as she’d been anticipating. ‘That’s wonderful,’ she said, and they shared a hug. Soon, though, the practitioner in her kicked in and she started checking on Shae’s diet and asking general health questions, reaching for her pen to start writing out a list of supplements. It was early days and there was always the risk of another miscarriage, but Rilee was confident that her treatments had helped and things would be different this time around.
She’d been so busy with Dan and his recovery that she’d barely had time to catch up with Shae since they’d been home. Now that she thought back on it, Shae had seemed a little quieter than usual, but she hadn’t thought too much about it at the time. She felt like a crappy friend and an even worse practitioner.
‘I’m so sorry I haven’t dropped around since we’ve been back.’
‘You’ve kind of had a bit on your plate,’ Shae said dryly.
Rilee had to agree. She was happy to consign the last few weeks to the past and leave them there.
No sooner had she waved goodbye to Shae than the door opened again and someone else walked in.
‘You’re back!’ Lisa said and threw her arms around Rilee.
Rilee gave a surprised chuckle. ‘I guess you missed me,’ she said when they broke apart.
‘I did. I’m so glad Dan’s home and on the mend.’
‘It takes more than a near-death experience to keep my husband away from his beloved cattle,’ Rilee said dryly. ‘He makes a lousy patient.’
‘It’s never easy when we try to treat loved ones. But anyway,’ she said briskly, ‘I take it you haven’t heard from Teal yet?’
‘I had a message asking me to get back to him. I haven’t had a chance yet…Why?’
Lisa rolled her eyes theatrically. ‘Oh, nothing major, just that they’ve managed to secure funding for our community centre and the whole thing’s got the green light!’
For the second time that day, Rilee was dumbfounded. ‘They’re going to do it?’
‘Yep!’ Lisa’s grin almost split her
face. ‘There’ll be computers which can be used to access online programs or Skype for face-to-face appointments and therapy sessions. We’ll have fortnightly visits by a doctor, counsellor and youth worker. They’ll be assisting with career information and job training for young people. Down the track they hope to bring in wider community-based programs that will cover all sorts of things—the elderly, young mums, childcare…The possibilities are endless, and the community centre itself will provide new local jobs.’
‘This is amazing,’ Rilee said, unable to do more little than stare at her friend and shake her head.
‘You did it,’ Lisa said proudly.
‘We did it. Until you came on board, I wasn’t getting anywhere.’
‘You started it. And this town had better be damn grateful.’
Rilee’s lips twisted slightly. ‘I’m sure there’ll be someone unhappy about something, but you know what?’ she said, tilting her head slightly. ‘That’s okay. It’s what they do here. Change scares them. We just have to ride out that initial knee-jerk response until things settle down. I’m not going to take it personally any more.’
‘You’ve come a long way, grasshopper,’ Lisa said drolly.
‘Thank you, master, I learned from the best.’
‘Well, I have to get back. I left Mum alone in the store, she’s probably dismantling my display of novelty condoms while I’m gone.’
‘I heard about that,’ Rilee grinned. ‘You wouldn’t be trying to provoke the good people of Pallaburra, would you?’
‘Who? Me?’ Lisa asked as she waved over her shoulder.
Rilee sank into her chair and closed her eyes, a contented smile on her face.
The sound of the door opening had Rilee dropping her head and giving a silent chuckle. There seemed little point in trying to get anything done today after all. As she looked up, her smile faltered a little. ‘Talissa,’ she said warmly, covering her surprise.
‘I thought you’d left town.’
‘Nope. I just had some family business to take care of.’ Rilee wasn’t sure if there was a purpose to the visit, but she’d gotten used to the roundabout way the young girl broached whatever was on her mind, so she waited calmly.
‘I was thinkin’ about what you said about studying.’
Rilee felt a shot of excitement spike through her, but fought hard to mask it. Too much enthusiasm would send Talissa retreating back inside her shell faster than flies through an open screen door.
‘I want a better life for my daughter. I wanna finish school and be a teacher.’
Rilee did try but she just couldn’t remain cool about it; instead she gave a small squeak of excitement. ‘That’s really great news. I’m so pleased for you.’
‘Yeah, well, I don’t know what to do next. I thought maybe you might know.’
Right at that very minute, Rilee knew that everything it had taken to see the community centre come to fruition had been worth it. ‘Let’s make some phone calls and see what we can find out.’
No matter how much red tape and community adversity she had to face, she’d do it gladly, because this was what it was all for—to give kids like Talissa a fighting chance in the world.
This wasn’t the dream she’d had before she met Dan; her city practice hadn’t happened, and her country one was only now starting to pick up, but maybe life had a different plan for her. Maybe instead of fighting to hold on to the dream she’d always carried, she needed to see where this path was leading her.
Outside a car pulled up and Rilee spotted Dan gingerly climbing out. He pushed his hat back off his forehead slightly, taking his sunglasses off and hooking them onto the front of his shirt. She let her eyes follow the width of his shoulders and down over the denim of his dusty work jeans. He was her knight in…well, denim. He’d stormed into her life and set her on a path that was leading her towards a very different future to the one she’d been planning.
Maybe they had rushed into this marriage, and maybe they had missed a few of the preliminary steps, but in her heart she knew the most important thing: she loved this man more than life itself. The rest they’d figure out later.
Together.
Acknowledgements
Huge thanks to Tamara McWillams for a conversation one day that started with ‘You should do a book with a naturopath in it…’ and all her follow-up help with the technical details (that’ll teach you to come up with a really good idea, Tamara!).
Thank you so much to the various people who helped with research, questions and early reading: Lyn Mattick, Netti Lane, Kirstin Knight, Kristy Watson, Glenda Grey, Sonya Popowycz Comiskey and Natalie Young. And thanks as always to supernurse Leanne Jarvis for giving me all the big words I need to make me sound so much smarter than I actually am. Big shout-out to my agent, Jo Butler; I’m still so impressed with your city driving skills—give me a corrugated dirt road any day!
To my fantastic publisher and all the crew at Allen & Unwin, thank you for continuing to allow me to write these stories and all your help to make them shine.
Earlier this year I was honoured to be an Australia Day ambassador. While writing my Australia Day speech I realised that writing rural fiction is so much more than simply a genre I like to write in. Rural Australia is my passion. The communities I write about and the issues that they face could apply to any rural community anywhere in Australia. I feel privileged to be able to share these stories with you, and I hope in some small way we can help raise awareness for rural Australia and the obstacles that distance, population and lack of funding pose to so many of our smaller communities.